December 01, 2013

NAMMHR submits Suggestions on the New Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013

The National Alliance for
Maternal Health and Human Rights (NAMHHR) is a civil society Alliance that
works on strengthening rights-based approaches for preventing maternal
mortality and promoting the highest quality of maternal health for the
marginalized in India.The
group recognizes that there is an urgent need for women's organizations, health
organizations, groups working on law and human rights, and mass-based
organizations to come together on this issue.The Alliance currently has members from twelve
states of India, as well as expert advisors working with research, Right to
Food, public health, right to medicines and budget accountability.

We are pleased that the Government has drafted
the “Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation
Act, 2013” and has invited comments on it from stakeholders. We think that this
act is an important one because this inhuman practice of manual scavenging is a
profanity not only on those involved in this practice but also on the country
and putting an end to it is the responsibility of the country as a whole. Those
who are involved in manual scavenging suffer from the inhuman pain of
scavenging human faeces and also go through the unbearable pain and humiliation
of discrimination, untouchability and social exclusion. A very small percentage
of children of these communities are in schools not because they 'drop out' but because they are 'pushed out'
from there.

In this view, NAMHHR strongly recommends
the following suggestions to the draft rules :

1. Chapter - 4 of the act is focusing on the
rehabilitation component of liberated manual scavengers, but in the Rules they
have not discussed single point of the rehabilitation. Even they have not used
the word – “Rehabilitation”in the draft rules (apart from in the name of
the rules).

2. Section – 13 of the new law is providing
provisions related to rehabilitation of the liberated manual scavengers, like
scholarship for the children, residential plot and financial assistance for
house construction or a ready–built house, training in a livelihood skill with
monthly stipend, subsidy and concessional loan for taking up an alternative
occupation on a sustainable basis and other legal and programmatic assistance.
But the Rules do not provide any of these provisions.

3. Draft rule – 3 says “No person shall be engaged
for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank” and same time

4. Rule no. 38 of the Draft Rulessays about the quantum of initial, onetime cash
assistance. But they are not providing provision about the amount of the cash
assistance, time period providing cash assistance, as well as the responsible
authority.

5. Rehabilitation of the former manual scavengers
who are liberated from this inhuman practice in the period before passing the
law, are not covered under the rules.

6. Notclear and concrete provisions have provided in the Draft Rules for
enforcement of the law in government institutions like Indian Railways,
Defense, etc.

8.Rules are very technical and gender-blind, despite the fact, thatLakhs of Dalits and Dalit Muslims as well as
very high proportion of themare women, who are
forced to continue in this inhuman practice. Yetthe proposed rules do not focus Caste as an important aspect of
the issue.

9.In many States, Administration and local authorities like
Municipal Corporation and Gram Panchayats as well as the local Railway stations
force Dalit or Safai Karmcharies to do manual scavenging. But, under the Draft
Rules they are responsible for enforcement of the law, which includes grievance
redress. This will lead to conflict of interest as we cannot expect them to
effectively eradicate the practice.

10. In many states
like Maharashtra, Manual Scavenging in Open Toilets (not in the dry toilets)
are institutionalized. The rules are not covered this form of manual
scavenging.